I have done Baby whisperer since my twins were just home from the hospital. They know how to put themselves to sleep. Half the time they will climb in their own bed and just fall asleep for their nap (though I go in and read to them anyways because I like to). But they fight bedtime. They used to go to bed at 7 (meaning we'd put them in their beds at 7, read a story, say a prayer and then sing a few songs) and then leave them half hour later and they were out soon thereafter. Since transitioning to the toddler beds though we have to sit with them for 1.5 hours before they fall asleep in their beds. If we leave before they are asleep they will either crawl into the other's bed and wake him up, or lay down by the door and cry (like I'm scared to death mom, please come back cries) until we come back in. They do this no matter what time we put them to bed or when their naps were and they wake up at 6 am without fail, whether they get to bed at 7 or at 11 (I tried letting them stay awake until they were dead on their feet this day... I hated myself in the morning). Anyways, I'm just at a loss of what to do. Should we go back to our basic story, prayer and a few songs and then leave them in there to fall asleep and come in to lay them down every once in a while (which we've done and it takes them 1.5-2 hours to fall asleep this way)? Should we let them wear themselves out and keep them up later? Do I need to have them do more rigorous activites throughout the day (the thought of this exhausts me just to think of it, but if it helps I'll do it)? Do I need to cut out their nap (this makes me want to cry because I have a newborn too and the only time I have to myself is the hour where their two naps coincide)? I have their basic schedule listed below:
6 wu
7 breakfast
7-10 play (climb on things, toys, outside)
10 snack
12 nap
2 wu/lunch
3-5 play
5 dinner
6 play
7 night time routine (bath, pjs, teeth)
7.30 in bed room with room dark, story, prayer, songs
9 time to clean
Thoughts?
